To: info@pawsweb.org
Subject: ELEPHANT TUMAI
You used to have a link to Elephant Tumai.I have had it on my site for years and now I cannot find it,thanks for any help. Jody
We have an electronic version of the book“Everything You Wanted to Know About Elephants” which has Tumai’s story in it.
Sincerely, TamaraNote from jj...this electronic book also has the stories ofElephants Bindu, Hannibal, Tyke, Stoneyand the picture "Breaking of a three year old Asian elephant".Heartbreaking.
"We have a campaign to help all captive bull elephants. The fundraising part is critical, and YOU can help! In these challenging economic times, we are not expecting people to send huge chunks of money. We are encouraging all of our friends and supporters to network with their friends in our campaign, "Dollars for Bulls." If you and one hundred of your friends each sent a dollar, we could build almost a foot of fencing around the bull mountain habitat. Our goal - 5,000 feet of fence to provide a spacious habitat for neglected and forgotten bull elephants."Please click here to donate, today.Performing Animal Welfare SocietyTelephone: (209) 745.2606
Fax: (209) 745.1809PAWS.ORG

~

Tumai's Last "Training Session"

The Riddle of TumaiAsk The Elephant ConsultantIs a Bulldozer/Skiploader the best way to train an elephant?

The Death of Tumai. Riddle Watches.

July 19, 1984:Tumai, a young African elephant, had a history of aggressive attacks against keepers. Bull elephants frequently exhibit more aggression than females. Young bull elephants are trained in an attempt to keep them manageable enough to be used for breeding. After a series of incidents at the park which was Tumai's original home, he was sold to a circus in Florida and became the property of a popular "elephant consultant" who specialized in training elephants for rides.
Elephant trainers frequently chain difficult elephants in positions so physically limiting that they are scarcely able to move. Tumai was chained in this manner for most of the summer with no shade or shelter. Reports stated he was fed and watered infrequently to further debilitate his physical strength.
Electric shock was administered and failed. Determined to subdue Tumai, trainers rammed him with a skip loader tractor to show him there were things bigger and stronger than he was. "They rammed him in the back and in the head, then left him lying there," an eye witness reported later.
Tumai had sustained terrible physical damage, and was unable to stand. According to reports that were received later, Tumai's owner was asked to remove the elephant from the zoo grounds to protect the zoo from public outrage should his condition become known. When it was apparent that it would be impossible to move him, he was finally euthanized after months of torment and suffering, from 5/10/84-07/19/84 according to medical reports.

(This is not what I read the first time I researched Tumai, many years ago. There was nothing about euthanasia. Tumai died of physical damage and torture. His killer is, to this day, not only "training" elephants, but running an elephant sanctuary. jj)